Heeled
by Wallyhorse
Summary: Done originally as a story suggestion, this is based on two baseball incidents: September 13, 2004 at Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland when Texas Rangers pitcher Frank Francisco threw a chair at fans who heckled several players, breaking a woman's n
1. Part One

Title: Heeled

Author: Walt

Disclaimers: This is strictly a fan fiction/story suggestion piece. The main "L & O" characters (and others previously seen in "The Franchise" are owned by Dick Wolf, and are only borrowed for this story suggestion. This suggestion is based on two recent incidents: One that occured in the Oakland Alemida County Colosieum on September 13, 2004 where Texas Rangers pitcher Frank Francisco in anger threw a chair at a fan that hit him, then bounced off him and hit a female fan, breaking her nose, combining it with what happened September 28, 2004 in Los Angeles when Dodgers outfielder Milton Bradley yelled at a fan who threw a beer bottle at him.  
  
Feedback: Of Course.  
  
Please be aware there are references here to prior story suggestions of mine, many of which are on other sites. If you want to see the earlier story suggestions, E-mail me privately and I'll be happy to provide the links for such stories.  
  
The story opens on a very warm and humid late Wednesday night-early Thursday morning in early August near the Chelsea Piers. A woman in her early 20s is walking several dogs west on 23rd street, talking to them when out of nowhere, a man comes running from the corner towards the dogs, with their suddenly speeding up to get closer to whoever it was and the owner barely holding on until they then suddenly stop, with the woman screaming and dialing 911 on her cell phone.  
  
The woman was Celia Martin, who had just seen the man die in front of her, apparently having been stabbed twice in the stomach, with a long blood trail going up 12th avenue.  
  
"I can't believe it, Ray Quinones", said Joe to Ed upon seeing the dead body, with Ed replying, "The man who threw a ball into the stands last year? Unbelivable!"  
  
Upon seeing Joe and Ed, Celia tells the detectives when asked, "He turned the corner on 23rd walking funny and the dogs I'm walking suddenly sped up to go to him before stopping, sensing something was very wrong. He appeared to be still alive at that point, but probably died while I was calling 911.", with the Detectives thanking her.  
  
Anita then arrives at the scene, with Ed mentioning, "He cost his team the Central Division last year."  
  
"What are you talking about?", then asked Anita, with Ed replying, "Last August, a bunch of fans in Miami were heckling a couple of pitchers for the Houston team as they were warming up late in a game the home team was winning by a lot. Our victim was the 'closer', or a man who comes in usually when his team is winning a close game and tries to hold the opponent at bay. He wasn't warming up when the heckling started that night as the game was a rout, but some fans were saying derogatory things about one of the pitchers warming up. As the hecklers got worse, he started shouting, and there was a scene where the victim threw a ball at some of the fans. That ball hit a man in the head who died a few hours later."  
  
"Wow! I didn't know it was our victim who did that", then said Anita, who then asked Ed, "Wasn't he arrested for throwing the ball?"  
  
Ed's replied, "He was, however, he was let go because several eyewitnesses said he threw the ball because two other men who started the entire thing were about to charge the field and go after him and some of the players, and they were worried others would follow. The ball missed the people he was aiming for and hit the other man."  
  
Joe chimed in by saying, "He's right. One of my old partners who retired to Miami a few years ago was at that game and called me after that whole mess happened. He was sitting near there and said he thought a good 15-20 fans were going to run onto the field had the ball not been thrown. That's the only reason he was only suspended for 15 games, fined $25,000 and didn't have any criminal charges filed. He was still facing a civil suit by the wife and parents of the man who died in the incident, and the family also has a separate suit against the teams and the stadium for what happened."  
  
"You think it was possibily related to that?", Anita asked the Detectives, with Joe replying, "Possible, but for now I'd look first at the strip club a couple of blocks north of here. It's a place a lot of ballplayers go to when they're in New York, and Quinones was known to go there when he was in town."  
  
The Detectives do just that, heading for (place name of fictional version of Scores here), a well-known spot on 12th avenue and 25th street for both its showing of all sports and its well-paid strippers with a very high-end clientele, including besides ballplayers a number of well-known celebrities. The trail of blood led to a wall near the entrance. The manager on duty (Jack Farmer) would talk to Joe and Ed  
  
"Odd thing is, there wasn't anything even remotely close to a fight going on tonight", said the manager to the Detectives.  
  
"Things get much worse in there?", asked Ed, with Jack replying "Sure. Just the other night in fact, we had a big brawl in here between a couple of men who were going too far trying to get one of the ladies. Luckilly, no one was hurt."  
  
"Could that have been related to what happened tonight?", asked Joe, with Jack replying "Possible, but I doubt it. Quinones and his new team only got in this afternoon, and a number of them were here tonight."  
  
Ed then said, "That's right!. I forgot Quinones was traded after last season to Tampa, and they came in tonight after playing in Toronto this afternoon. They would likely come here since they don't play until Friday."  
  
"What do you mean?", asked Anita as she arrived at the scene, with Ed replying "I had forgotten that our victim had been traded from Houston to Tampa in the off-season, and since the Houston team is at Shea through tomorrow night we thought he was with them. The Tampa team happens to be in New York as well since they are off until Friday when they start a series at Yankee Stadium."  
  
"Guess you have some ballplayers to talk to", then said Anita.  
  
Two other Tampa players who were at the club with Quinones then come out to talk to Lennie and Ed. Both basically re-interate what Jack had told the Detectives that there appeared to be nothing wrong, and Quinones decided to leave early to call it a night.  
  
One of the players told Joe and Ed, "We got here about 9:00 and were planning to stay through the end of the second game of the TV doubleheader, the one that airs Wednesdays on cable. Ray had decided to go back to the hotel wanting to get some sleep since he pitched today, but we wanted to stay. We didn't hear anything outside until we were told what happened to Ray."  
  
The Detectives then interview others at the club who basically said the same thing before they re-examine the crime scene, this time going east on 25th street towards 11th avenue.  
  
Ed would say to Joe, "Interesting. There appears to be these litle red dots going across", with Joe asking for forensics to check to see if that was blood, which the Detectives find out when they return to the scene early the next morning after getting some rest was the case.  
  
(continued in part two)


	2. Part Two

Title: Heeled (Part Two)  
  
Author: Walt  
  
Feedback: Of Course.  
  
Please be aware there are references here to prior story suggestions of mine, many of which are on other sites. If you want to see the earlier story suggestions, E-mail me privately and I'll be happy to provide the links for such stories.  
  
Disclaimers and set-up: See Part One  
  
After finding out about the blood, they are with M.E. Rogers, who tells the detectives, "Your victim was stabbed to death, but I seriously doubt he was stabbed by any normal knife." While showing where on the body and using X-Rays, Rogers tells them "It looks like some object did her in, one that perhaps was very spikey and considerably long. since whatever he was stabbed with also punctured his lung. It was a miracle he made it two blocks to 23rd street in his condition."  
  
"I wonder what it could be?", Ed would say as The Detectives then go back to the crime scene again, where they encounter the manager (Jack Farmer) who had been on duty the night before, who seeked them out this time with their talking outside the club.  
  
Jack said to the detectives: "I didn't think anything of it last night, but before everything happened, there was this woman with very darkish, reddish hair that made her look very 'sixties-ish' who seemed to be walking around the area for a while like she was waiting for someone. I didn't try to ask her anything because she looked very nervous, constantly slipping her shoes on and off in a way that said she was extremely anxious, though that could also have been because they were killing her feet, as they looked like they were 4-5 inch heels that were red, and she was also wearing a bright red suit. It was not long before Quinones left that I saw her. Perhaps she can tell you what happened if you could find her."  
  
Joe and Ed call in a sketch artists to have Jack make a description of the woman he saw, with Joe startled when he saw the description. Ed would ask why, with Joe saying,"That's the wife of the man who was killed when Quinones threw the ball at the game in Miami last year!"  
  
"Are you kidding?!", asked Ed, with Joe replying with a resounding "No! That's the woman who lost her husband that night.I can call my old partner to confirm."  
  
Joe then immediately called his retired partner who at that game in Miami a year earlier to. He told him her name was Christine Carlesimo, and it was her husband John who was killed when Quinones threw the ball, also noting to Joe on the phone that about two months after the incident, Christine also suffered a miscarriage that from he read was caused by stress the of losing her husband.  
  
"You think she did it?", asked Ed, with Joe replying, "Probably."  
  
Joe's thoughts were confirmed when talking with three other witnesses, two of whom were strippers at the club.  
  
The first witness said to the Detectives, "There was a woman with Auburn-ish hair who was at different times right next to the club or in the park across the street, and she looked very nervous. She had on a red skirt suit and pumps that appeared to have a very high heel that she was having trouble walking in, one like I often wear at work. She was constantly playing with them from what I saw." The second witness would basically say the same thing.  
  
The third witness, a much older man named Ken Clarke then told the detectives also had the same description of the woman as the other witness, then saying "I was walking along this block from 11th avevnue, crossing to head for the park with my dog when that woman nearly ran over me. She looked very upset, I thought perhaps she was attacked and escaped the way she was running in the heels she was wearing, running up 11th avenue."  
  
After letting the witness go, Ed is now convinced Christine is the killer of Ray Quinones. The two are wondering if she is even still in New York and were about to put out an all-points bulletin to check all ways out of New York when they get word of a woman matching Christine's description walking around aimlessly in a deserted part of Central Park. When they get to that part of the park, the Detectives see a woman still in the same suit as decribed by the various witnesses while barefoot, with her shoes not far away. The Detectives insist on the shoes being tested as both think they may have been the murder weapon(s), with while Forensic Detectivbes did that Christine going to her knees and screaming "Why did he have to kill my husband?", with her then sobbing as the Detectives then arrest Christine.  
  
At the Precint, Christine, still wearing the suit remained silent as Serena looked from outside the interrogation room, waiting for both her attorney and brother to show up, asking The Detectives: "Is she the one who's husband died at the hands of our victim last year in Miami?"  
  
"More of less", Ed awnsered, then asking Serena "You know about that incident?", who then replied, "How can I forget. That was a huge sports and even news story last year, and I know she and her late husband's family have lawsuits all over the place."  
  
"That's right!", then said Christine's defense attorney Gary Feldman, Jr., who came in along with Christine's father and brother, Steve Martino Sr. and Jr., who also brough Christine a pair of shoes to wear as she was still barefoot with the pair she had been wearing still being tested.to see if blood was on them. Gary then said to Serena before they went into the interrogation room, "I've been helping my client with her civil suits as well before that." With Christine refusing to talk other than to say she would not take a plea bargain, she is arraigned a short while later on a charge of second degree murder in the death of Ray Quinones. She is released on $250,000 bail. In the meantime, forensic evidence comes back on the pumps that Christine had been wearing. Those were determined to be the murder weapons with a considerable amount of dried blood on both heels and the bottom of both shoes that matched that of Ray and the crime scene, even if there was dirt mixed in with the blood from Central Park.  
  
"I can fully understand her wanting to take her chances with a jury. I might do the same thing with my daughter under those circumstances", Arthur said to Jack and Serena in Jack's Office at Hogan Place.  
  
Jack replied, "But you know she did kill him, Arthur", with Arthur replying "Yes, I know Jack, and that's why since she won't take a deal, we have to prosecute this. While her situation is obviously tragic, it doesn't give her the right to kill Mr. Quinones, however, even if she thought she had every right to given the nightmare she's been under."  
  
Serena would then chime in by saying "Hello? We are dealing with a woman who suffered both the loss of her husband and her baby. As one who suffered a miscarriage when I was at Harvard, I know how I felt when that happened to me. Add to that her miscarriage, and I'm honesty surprised she didn't try to kill herself."  
  
Jack then said to Serena,"You would see her point. I had forgotten you suffered a miscarriage, albeit under much different circumstances", with Serena replying "One I had to testify to in court nearly two years ago in that other case before Sue Ellen Gold had that big scare last year that really changed her", with Arthur in turn replying, "A big scare indeed. I know she made up with you after Rob Callahan died and apologized for what she put you through a year earlier."  
  
"She did. That case really scared her, much like Jessica Sheets last year with that maniac cab driver before Tim Schwimmer took over and went to jail for his actions on that case, though even before that, she had thought long and hard about it after my ex-husband Doug was killed", then said Serena.  
  
"True, but what that have to do with this case?", Arthur then asked.  
  
Serena then laid a bombshell on Jack and Arthur: "Well, I want off this case because I can't wholeheartedly prosecute her. She's been under too much hell for me to do it."  
  
"What?", asked Jack, with Serena replying "You heard me! I will not prosecute someone who in my opinion was driven to what she did under the circumstances she was. The people who really deserved to be prosecuted for Ray Quinones' death are the two idiots in Miami last year who looked like they were going to go after him there, causing him to throw the ball that killed John Carlesimo."  
  
Arthur then said to Serena. "You're sounding like Jane Russo blaiming her mother for what happened to her when Helen Flowers pushed her earlier this year."  
  
Serena replied by saying in a raised voice: "Except in this case, it's clearly obvious to me that Christine Carlesimo was driven to killing Ray Quinones after she first lost her husband and suffering a miscarriage as a result of the stress of that! It's going to be near-impossible to get a guilty verdict!"  
  
"You're sounding like you're doing my job, Serena", then said Gary as he walked into Jack's Office, with Serena then looking quite red-faced, not knowing that Gary was there and walking out as did Arthur. After that, Gary said to Jack, "My Client wants her day in court. She's been an emotional wreck for a year because of what Quinones did. Not only that, with Serena saying what she did as I was walking in, I can call her as a witness that in her opinion this will be a tough case to win."  
  
Jack replied to Gary: "Except that Ray Quinones had his parents and so forth who probably all feel that in spite of what happened to your client, she should still be punished for killing Mr. Quinones."  
  
"And how many of them had their husband killed by a pitcher who threw a ball into the stands at 100 miles an hour?", Asked Gary, with Jack then silent before Gary said,"Thought so. Have your psych expert to her. She'll say the truth!", with Jack agreeing to that. Right after that, Jack and Arthur tell Serena she can take herself off this trial, with Jack deciding he would do this case without a second chair.  
  
A short while later, Christine is talking to Elizabeth Olivet, talking about what happened.  
  
"It was a typically hot night in Miami when our team played the Houston team last year. They were in first place in the Central Division, our team was leading the wild card race and tied for the lead in the Eastern Division. John and I had been looking forward to that series because we knew there was a good chance of the teams meeting again in the playoffs. The atmosphere was electric, everything was in place, and our team took a big lead early on. Then, a couple of louts decided to insult the pitchers of that other team, and they were the ones who were going after him when he threw the ball that killed my husband", with Christine breaking down and crying some after that before composing herself.  
  
Elizabeth would reply once Christine composed herself: "Obviously, you took your husband's death very hard, and to have a miscarriage on top of that."  
  
Christine would reply: "Absolutely. The worst part is, John never even got to find out I was pregnant, as I didn't know until about a week after the funeral when I suddenly was feeling sick. That overwhelmed me to the point where two months later, I nearly died after being rushed to the hospital and suffered a miscarriage. I also saw how much it was hurting my mother and father-in-law, who were helping me as best they could as well as my own parents. They gave me a lot of support, but you could see the pain they were feeling."  
  
"And it was that bad?", asked Elizabeth, with Christine replying, "It still is that bad!", with her stopping to wipe some tears before continuing by saying, "The lives of all of us were turned upside down thanks to those two idiots who went after that bastard who then didn't show enough restraint by taking a ball and throwing it at them, only it instead missed them and killed my husband. I know what I did was wrong, but I had been driven to it by what he did and all the pain it caused not only me, but both my family and John's family. I've talked with psychologists about this, and while they have been encouraging, I'm still finding myself depressed most of the time. All I could think about when I finally saw him coming out of that strip club was for him to get what he deserved, 'an eye for an eye.' I 'unintentionally' bumped into him on his side when he came out alone and no one was looking, knocked him into a wall, and then took off my shoes and drove the heels of them right into his stomach."  
  
The conversation basically continued along those lines, with Elizabeth then telling Jack afterwards she was soundly convinced that Christine had been suffering from extreme emotional trauma as a result.  
  
"There is no way under normal circumstances that Christine Carlesimo would have murdered Ray Quinones. If Quinones had not thrown that ball into the stands last year, I'm convinced everything would have been normal", said Elizabeth to Jack. Jack replied by saying, "But things were not normal. Christine Carlesimo used the heels of her shoes to murder Ray Quinones. His family is now suffering thanks to what Ms. Carlesimo did."  
  
"That may be true, but you are going to have an extremely difficult time at trial convicting her, especially since I'm aware you're doing this one without Serena", Elizabeth then said to Jack, which Jack acknowledged before Elizabeth left.  
  
(continued in part three) 


	3. Part Three

Title: Heeled (Part Three)  
  
Author: Walt  
  
Feedback: Of Course.  
  
Please be aware there are references here to prior story suggestions of mine, many of which are on other sites. If you want to see the earlier story suggestions, E-mail me privately and I'll be happy to provide the links for such stories.  
  
Disclaimers and set-up: See Part One  
  
Jack was torn on this case because he understood what Christine Carlesimo had gone through, but at the same time knew that relatives of Ray Quinones wanted justice for his death, which to them meant Christine convicted and doing time in prison.  
  
While that was going on, Lennie Briscoe, now an Investigator for the DA's Office, came into Jack's office to fill him in on what he found out.  
  
Lennie would tell Jack, "I talked to a lot of players and others on both the Houston and Tampa teams. The Houston players said that while Ray was an effective pitcher for them, a lot of fans blamed Ray for ruining their season with that incident and basically forced the trade to Tampa. The Tampa players said he had been a stabilizing force for their team and helped them to their best record ever at this point of the season and were devastated. Many sympathize with the defendant and feel that some sort of compromise needs to be done since while she did kill Ray, in light of what had happened to her husband she should not be punished too severely."  
  
"Ray's parents want her found guilty and put away for a long time", was Jack's reply, with Lennie then saying to Jack, "I can understand that, having lost a daughter myself six and a half years ago. I wanted justice for the man who killed my daughter, which I got in a way when Cathy's ex-boyfriend and drug dealer was killed and the attorney that in my opinion caused Cathy to be killed then wound up getting in hot water on another case two years later."  
  
"Has it been that long already?", then asked Jack, with Lennie replying, "Sure has. Anyway, if I were still at the 2-7 and caught this case, I'd probably be very torn given my daughter's situation."  
  
With that, Lennie then left, and Jack called Gary asking if he could work something out.  
  
"Absolutely no way am I agreeing to any deal! That man killed my husband and caused me to lose my baby. Those two jerks who incited the whole incident last year are the ones who should be here standing trial, as we are now suing them for wrongful death as well!", Christine emphatically said to Jack.  
  
"It's my job to go along with her wishes", then said Gary, throwing his hands in the air.  
  
"I see", then said Jack to Gary.  
  
After Christine stepped out of Jack's office, Gary would say to Jack, "You know, if my father were still alive and were Judge on this trial, he'd probably be as tough on you as ever."  
  
"Knowing him, you'd probably be right", replied Jack as Gary then left, but before doing so gave him his witness list, which included several people who were at the game in question a year earlier.  
  
Jack knew he'd have a difficult time as Gary pretty much had his way throughout the trial, especially not having a second chair. While Ray's parents and siblings would say how wonderful a man Ray was, it would be all for naught as soon as Gary began calling witnesses who were at the game in Miami where the original incident happened. One by one, those witnesses noted how throughout that game, two men were chiding the "very highly regarded Houston pitching staff" that included a remark about one of the relievers saying how his grandmother probably could hit some of the pitchers the way that game was going. The witnesses noted how several of the pitchers in the bullpen had enough, and then the two men who incited this along with a very others were about to go onto the field. They noted that was when Quinones took a ball and threw it into the stands to keep them at bay, only it missed the men he was aiming for and killed John Carlesimo, who was several rows up in the stands. Many of the witnesses also felt the wrong person was on trial here, as they felt the two men who incited the riot are the ones who should be standing trial for this, and said in court that they hoped Christine and her family "clean those two jerks out", as several put it.  
  
Christine then takes the stand and goes into details on what her life had been like since John was killed, including losing her baby and having thoughts of killing herself, also noting she needed help to get her through what is still an ongoing nightmare for her. That was not even necessary to sway the Jury, who found her not guilty in just five minutes of deliberations.  
  
The final scene is back in the DA's Office (taking place in early November, three months after the original incident), where Serena walks in on Jack:  
  
"Don't say I told you so. I didn't have a choice but to prosecute her as Ray Quinones' family would have been all over this office if I didn't", said Jack to Serena on her walking in.  
  
Serena replied by saying "I wasn't going to do that, because I know that was why. Am I forgiven for backing out?"  
  
"Of course", then awnsered Jack, with Serena replying "Thanks. Anyway, some of the jurors were interviewed, and said they all had decided on a not guilty verdict even before Christine took the stand."  
  
"Figures", then said Jack, with Serena leaving the office.  
  
Serena then literally runs into Christine, who specifically wanted to see her.  
  
"I wanted to talk to you as I heard you were supposed to work with Mr. McCoy, but refused because you didn't want to prosecute me", Christine would say to Serena.  
  
Serena replied by saying, "Correct. I suffered a miscarriage myself 12 years ago when I was a junior in college, though in my case, I didn't know I was pregnant until after I lost the baby. The only good thing about that was I didn't have to wrestle with whether to have the baby or have an abortion at the time since I was only 21 and not married, though I since went through a marriage and divorce. What you went through was much worse than me, and my ex-husband and his second wife were brutally murdered 18 months ago."  
  
"Wow!", was Christine's reply, with Serena then saying, "Yes, and what makes that even more scary is that could have been me who was killed that night if I had been still married. It was the case that involved the University down south being taken out of the basketball tournament by my ex-husband, who was the Athletic Director after academic fraud where he and his new wife were killed along with the former head coach and his wife, son and daughter."  
  
"I remember that case, the one that finally brought down the Grushkov crime family", then said Christine, amazed that it was Serena's ex-husband who was killed.  
  
Serena then asked Christine what she was going to do now, with Christine replying, "I have to get help for everything that has happened to me over the past year, plus do what I can with the lawsuits I'm dealing with. Thankfully, the Houston team and stadium now knowing what happened are willing to do a settlement that looks like it will be satisfactory for me and both my family and John's while we are now focusing on suing the two men who started the whole thing, with them hopefully getting what they deserve at least monetarily if not criminally."  
  
"Sounds like you have a lot on your plate", then said Serena.  
  
"Yes. After I finish with the new lawsuits, I'm thinking of moving back here. I love living in Miami, but it's too hot in the summer and even though it's cold here in the winter, it's my real home and I have a lot of family here, both John's and mine. I'm going to need that support for a long time after the hell I've been through.", then said Christine, who then left, but not before Serena gave her a card with her info and told her to stay in touch.  
  
THE END  
  
Hope you enjoyed this story. 


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